Any criticism welcome. Please and thank you

[Hosermensch]

https://www.alamy.com/portfolio/1224558.html

It is around 6 months since I began uploading to Alamy, Before this my camera was solely for taking video and photos of other snowboarders and skiiers doing tricks or jumping off cliffs. Do I need to take more photographs of 'people doing things'? And are my photos too dark? Do I need a new computer monitor that is more representative of the average user's screen? I shoot handheld 99% of the time with the fujifilm xt30 and am looking to upgrade to full frame fujifilm (gfx). But I want to make sure I am utilising my current camera completely before I spend 2k EUROS on a new camera that may just confuse my progress. Please let me know what you think

https://www.alamy.com/portfolio/1224558.html

[Sally Robertson]

Hi and welcome Hosermensch,

 

I do see that many of your images are very underexposed. One thing you can do with a mirrorless camera is see the exposure on the camera's screen before taking the image and making adjustments accordingly. If you are shooting in aperture priority, shutter priority or automatic, exposure compensation can be a quick way of doing this. There is some advice here from Fujifilm on exposure compensation:

https://fujifilm-x.com/en-gb/learning-centre/when-to-use-exposure-compensation/

 

You can also check your histogram in-camera and obviously also in post processing. You want the info to be up towards the right hand end. While your monitor could be an issue I would be carefully looking at the images in-camera first and at the time of capture, as it should be possible to recognise if they are underexposed there. At present your images are quite dark which means they will not stand out well next to others in image searches.

 

I am even wondering if you have knocked or turned the exposure compensation dial by accident, leading to the consistent under exposure in your images. Have a look at your camera manual and see which dial is designated for exposure compensation as you may have done something with this without realising.

 

You have a variety of subjects which is good but I would consider the usability of each and every photo you take. Think about whether the image has an actual real world use for a buyer.

 

I would also have a look at composition. Some images have a distracting object cutting through the frame, such as a building pole in the middle of a scene of a mountain. One thing you can follow is the rule of thirds which you don't always have to follow, but as a general guide it can help you frame scenes in a way that is pleasing to the eye. If not familiar with it, I would google rule of thirds.

 

In a few cases your horizons are not straight which is something to definitely correct.

 

Another thing you could look at as you develop post-processing skills is doing keystone corrections which is where you correct distortions that involve converging verticals (this is often most obvious with buildings).

 

I would consider developing your skills with your existing camera more first before investing in Fujifilm GFX. I am using Fujifilm X cameras now over the past year and very happy with them. The GFX cameras look amazing for landscape.

 

I hope that helps and all the best.

[Jeffrey Isaac Greenberg]

20 hours ago, Hosermensch said:

are my photos too dark?

I looked at your images link left side of your message:

Images: 433

yes IMO they often are;

look at my images' brightness to compare:

(even my night scene shadows are brighter than you day scenes...?)

Images: 149937

good news, you can correct them, resubmit, ask Alamy to delete old images;

Edited December 28, 2023 by Jeffrey Isaac Greenberg

[ColdCoffee]

I was expecting photos with snowboarders and skiers ... Such photos would be great on Alamy!

 

The locations of your photos should offer great opportunities for stock photos, but as Sally already said ... the photos are underexposed, and looks like they are not post processed.

 

Each photo needs a clear focal point and message, great light, interesting composition, and post processing ...

[Steve F]

Servus Dylan,

I agree with all the comments above, but kudos to you for asking the questions, it's a good approach.

 

Images of people doing things sell well, although still keep images without people in too. But people smiling and posing for the camera are not likely to sell at all, they look too much like holiday snaps - e.g. people messing with tractors in Austria or posing and doing peace signs in Nicaragua.

 

Yes, many of your images are underexposed. If you're not going to post process, then you need to get the exposure right in the field (although I know that can be hard to do in bright sunshine - but then use your histogram). I do try to get my exposure right generally, but don't worry about it too much as I can sort it out with post processing.

 

A decent monitor is helpful for sure. And if you're going to spend the dosh on a better monitor, you want to make sure it's calibrated - Colormunki for example.

 

Post processing is probably more important than a new camera in my opinion.

 

Agree that you should try and perfect your approach before splashing the money on an expensive camera and expensive lenses. Other than doing your own research, it might be worth asking people on the Forum about choice of full frame camera.

 

If you want a limited idea of what sells, see here:

https://discussion.alamy.com/topic/17282-images-licenced-december-2023/

but be aware that people won't necessarily put their best sellers on. Also, keep a look out for published stock photos - compare your images.

 

Best of luck,

Stephen

 

p.s. had a quick look at your captions and keywords. They're not great... latin and common name missing for the mushroom for example - these are what buyers will use to search. I do a lot of research on my images, but it does pay with sales. You've also got a lot of irrelevant / completely wrong keywords, which will hurt your CTR. Have a look at other people's portfolio critiques for advice on captioning and keywording.

Edited December 28, 2023 by Steve F

[Michael Ventura]

I think, overall, you have some saleable photos in your collection.  Agree that many are too dark/underexposed.  Also some have distracting objects or foreground items that sort ruin the photo.  One example is of a beach in Costa Rica 2TB517F, you have a woman in the foreground and it looks like she is blowing her nose.  There is no mention of woman, let alone blowing her nose, anywhere in the caption or keywords but you do keyword it with snorkel and snorkeling and I don't see evidence of that activity.  You must be accurate and relevant with your keywords and captions.  Don't worry about "Good Discoverability", just put in accurate words as they relate to the photo.

[Hosermensch]

Thanks for the replies so far they are extremely helpful and interesting!

I wanted to say that when I am shooting, I ALWAYS adjust everything individually (aperture, ISO and Shutter speed), and I never use the +2 +1 0 -1 -2 exposure dial because I think the manual settings override it. The only thing I let the camera do is the autofocus. I am often pushing the ISO down to keep detail, and at the time of capturing the photos I think they are great, it's only later that I realise (during editing the RAW) that I need to push the shadows, and highlights up in Lightroom, which just deletes all that detail anyway... And I think I have processed and brightened up around 75% of my images to the point where most of them are starting to get noisy and lose detail. I like to keep the contrast and colour of the pre processed image but when I raise the brightness in post, they look washed out or flat. I actually sold one such image and its my only sale so far: https://www.alamy.com/image-details-popup.asp?Imageid=01C5D8CB-2B1E-4AFF-8109-08C04707501C


The subject of the image is probably what sold it because it looks so dull compared to how it looked pre processing. Maybe that's just my perception.

This is the main reason I was looking at the GFX, since the sensor is larger in the GFX I thought I could shoot the same way and get more light in my images and hence more detail. My eyes are so used to dark detailed photos and I feel like I would be happier to only shoot at night with a tripod and some shop/street lights just to get the images I prefer in the moment. Am I training my eye to enjoy dark images? Should I use priority modes? 

Also, snowboarding and skiing photos are coming! The snow and sun will be a challenge, maybe it will improve my ability 

Edited December 28, 2023 by Hosermensch

[Steve F]

Hi Dylan, thanks for replying.

Well, you're being more technical than me, using the manual setting. And I'm sure some people on here will swear by it. But I generally don't think it's needed, unless you're shooting unusual things like moody images or long exposure night skies. I almost always shoot aperture priority - I set the aperture for depth of field and the general conditions. Then I apply exposure compensation +- as needed. I occasionally shoot shutter priority for action shots. Modern cameras are very good at this, why override it?

 

Your photo processing - it sounds like something may be going wrong. But I think based on your original post, you would be best off getting a decent screen and getting it colour calibrated and at the right brightness setting, before we deep dive into your processing - it may just be the screen. Or it may be just that you like darker photos. Our experience is generally that brighter images sell better. My other suggestion would be to have a look at what photography books and magazines show as 'properly' exposed images (not on the internet, because you'll be using your screen to look at them!)

 

You're misunderstanding how the sensors work. You can get adequately bright images with much smaller sensors - e.g. phones do it fine. You can get more detail with a larger sensor. But detail is different from exposure/light.

 

One more thing on Lightroom. Increasing the exposure often increases the saturation, so you might end up needing to put in negative saturation sometimes. But increasing the exposure shouldn't have any effect on noise in the image (that I know of).

 

p.s. A thought occurs on exposure - do you find that other people's images from the posters in this forum are overexposed?

 

p.p.s. I would define a 'correctly' exposed image as what the human eye would see if it were at the scene. Your images often look like I would expect if I was wearing sunglasses.

Edited December 28, 2023 by Steve F
p.s.

[Mr Standfast]

 

Hello Dylan,

 

This might be helpfull.

 

https://www.adobe.com/uk/creativecloud/photography/discover/how-to-read-a-histogram.html

 

I don't need a Medium format Fuji, Fuji APS-C does the job.

 

Good Luck

 

 

 

[sooth]

1 hour ago, Hosermensch said:

Thanks for the replies so far they are extremely helpful and interesting!

I wanted to say that when I am shooting, I ALWAYS adjust everything individually (aperture, ISO and Shutter speed), and I never use the +2 +1 0 -1 -2 exposure dial because I think the manual settings override it. The only thing I let the camera do is the autofocus. I am often pushing the ISO down to keep detail, and at the time of capturing the photos I think they are great, it's only later that I realise (during editing the RAW) that I need to push the shadows, and highlights up in Lightroom, which just deletes all that detail anyway... And I think I have processed and brightened up around 75% of my images to the point where most of them are starting to get noisy and lose detail. I like to keep the contrast and colour of the pre processed image but when I raise the brightness in post, they look washed out or flat. I actually sold one such image and its my only sale so far: https://www.alamy.com/image-details-popup.asp?Imageid=01C5D8CB-2B1E-4AFF-8109-08C04707501C

what camera, iso and aperture are you using, and what pp software?

[Sally Robertson]

3 hours ago, Hosermensch said:

Thanks for the replies so far they are extremely helpful and interesting!

I wanted to say that when I am shooting, I ALWAYS adjust everything individually (aperture, ISO and Shutter speed), and I never use the +2 +1 0 -1 -2 exposure dial because I think the manual settings override it. The only thing I let the camera do is the autofocus. I am often pushing the ISO down to keep detail, and at the time of capturing the photos I think they are great, it's only later that I realise (during editing the RAW) that I need to push the shadows, and highlights up in Lightroom, which just deletes all that detail anyway... And I think I have processed and brightened up around 75% of my images to the point where most of them are starting to get noisy and lose detail. I like to keep the contrast and colour of the pre processed image but when I raise the brightness in post, they look washed out or flat. I actually sold one such image and its my only sale so far: https://www.alamy.com/image-details-popup.asp?Imageid=01C5D8CB-2B1E-4AFF-8109-08C04707501C


The subject of the image is probably what sold it because it looks so dull compared to how it looked pre processing. Maybe that's just my perception.

This is the main reason I was looking at the GFX, since the sensor is larger in the GFX I thought I could shoot the same way and get more light in my images and hence more detail. My eyes are so used to dark detailed photos and I feel like I would be happier to only shoot at night with a tripod and some shop/street lights just to get the images I prefer in the moment. Am I training my eye to enjoy dark images? Should I use priority modes? 

Also, snowboarding and skiing photos are coming! The snow and sun will be a challenge, maybe it will improve my ability 

 

Hello again Dylan,

 

Just a few more thoughts based on what you have mentioned there.

 

It's worth keeping in mind that what the camera shows you on the back of the screen after you take the image is a JPEG even if shooting in RAW. In post processing the RAW image nearly always needs adjustments made otherwise it will look a bit flat.

 

The fact you are getting noisy images when you attempt to brighten them in post-processing does suggest something is not right with the exposure at time of capture. As Steve mentions increasing the exposure in post processing shouldn't actually increase noise in the image, but if underexposed in-camera it may start to look noisy as you lift the exposure in post-processing if there is any existing noise there already. If correctly exposed in-camera and with an ISO that's not too high, you should be able to lift the exposure in post-processing quite comfortably without seeing noise.

 

I do think it could be worth trying the priority modes. They make things so easy. I most often shoot in aperture priority based on the scene. If a landscape I will often choose around f11. If wildlife I go with wider apertures that blur the background and distracting elements. Basically the camera sorts out the correct shutter speed and usually the exposure pretty well too, but exposure compensation can be used to override things if something in the image is a little too dark or bright. I still adjust my ISO based on the lowest ISO I think I can use for the scene. While there can be advantages to shooting fully manual as you develop your skills, starting out with aperture or shutter priority is a really good way of getting to know how the camera exposes and it is easy and convenient.

 

If your histogram looks correct in-camera and in post-processing, then there could be an issue with your monitor. Perhaps check the brightness settings on your monitor too. 

 

The sensor of the X-T30 is definitely not the issue when it comes to enough light getting into the camera. It can expose just as well as the GFX. A smaller sensor does not mean you will get darker exposures. The higher resolution sensor of the GFX will give more detail, but it will not make a difference with exposure.

 

I would say have fun experimenting with priority modes and you may find you get some different results. Have fun with the snowboarding and skiing photography too! As snow is very bright sometimes the camera may underexpose a bit because it is viewing the bright white relative to middle grey and thinks it has to bring the exposure down. This is where exposure compensation can be quite helpful to make the correct adjustment.

 

All the best!

[KitJames]

When I started off photography I was using manual a lot and wondered why my photos weren't looking great. I switch between P Mode and Aperture Priority on my Panasonic GH5M2, and it's a Four Thirds sensor since my first GH4, so I am familiar with the sensor's limitations. I'd master the XT30 to the best of its abilities and don't oversplurge on something you probably didn't need in the first place.

 

 

[Jeffrey Isaac Greenberg]

19 hours ago, Hosermensch said:

I actually sold one such image and its my only sale so far: https://www.alamy.com/image-details-popup.asp?Imageid=01C5D8CB-2B1E-4AFF-8109-08C04707501C


The subject of the image is probably what sold it because it looks so dull compared to how it looked pre processing. Maybe that's just my perception.

IMO your image sold because buyer did NOT see this image:
https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/F1Y6CD.html

do you see how it is brighter than your image?

(I'd be using Dodging Tool on people to make their faces even brighter)

That fact makes it more salable...

Edited December 29, 2023 by Jeffrey Isaac Greenberg

[Sally Robertson]

Something you may find helpful Dylan is Andy Mumford's website: 

 

https://www.andymumford.com

 

He covers all things Fujifilm and has used many of their cameras. He has tutorials on various aspects of photography using Fujifilm and reviews of their various cameras. He shoots with both Fujifilm X and Fujifilm GFX. If you look under Films in the menu and scroll down you will see the camera reviews which include the X-T30, the GFX models and the recent X-T5 and X-H2 among others. You can see he gets excellent results with all these cameras. So what you have now is a very adequate camera that can certainly deliver well for stock photography.

 

Given the expense of the GFX cameras including the lenses, it is a very large investment to make and it would be definitely worth building your skills further with the X-T30 which will put you in a better position to know what suits you if you want to upgrade later.

 

I just thought you may find that website helpful in terms of the tutorials and gear info, as well as getting some inspiration from his landscape images.

[ColdCoffee]

Just want to add that when you shoot in RAW, you may need to adjust contrast, color temperature, highlights, shadows etc. It's not just about exposure. You want to make the photo pop.